Air deflector with enclosed magnet mounts



Dec. 19, 1967 c. P. MEYER 3,358,578

AIR DEFLECTOR WITH ENCLOSED MAGNET MOUNTS Filed Feb. 9, 1966 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. CHPJSTOPH P. MEYER B Y MZ/W W M Alforggs Dec. 19, 1967 c. P. MEYER 3,358,578

AIR DEFLECTOR WITH ENCLOSED MAGNET MOUNTS Filed Feb. 9, 1966 2 Sheets-Shee 2 Fig. 5.

IMNITOR CHmsToPH P. MEYER ZMM/wJMM/M AHorneys United States Patent 3,358,578 AIR DEFLECTOR WITH ENCLOSED MAGNET MOUNTS Christoph P. Meyer, 2901 E. 46th St., Indianapolis, Ind. 46225 Filed Feb. 9, 1966, Ser. No. 526,175 9 Claims. (Cl. 98103) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An air outlet register of ferromagnetic material with a clear plastic air deflector mounted thereto by magnet assemblies, the deflector having edges with detented notches therein, and the magnet assemblies being provided in clear plastic housings with grooves in the ends thereof for reception on the edges, and lugs on the housing ends disposed to interlock with detents on the edges to securely retain the magnet assemblies.

Background and description This invention relates generally to air deflectors for air outlets in heating and cooling systems for buildings, and more particularly to new means for mounting air deflectors to outlet registers and the like.

Air deflectors of various types, such as shown in my Patent No. 3,225,679 issued Dec. 28, 1965, for example, are used on air outlets to deflect the discharge air away from furniture, draperies, or occupants. Magnets have been successively employed to mount such deflectors. However it has been found that distinct advantages can be obtained if careful attention is paid to the manner of employment of the magnets. Also it is desirable to assure that the magnets employed with air deflectors do not become the object of pilferage from displays in retail outlets selling air deflectors with magnets mounted thereto.

It is therefore a general object of the present invention to provide an improved air deflector and mounting system therefor.

A further object is to provide a 'better magnet mounting installation.

A further object is to provide magnetic mounting means adapted to a variety of types of installation of the air deflector on air outlet members.

A further object is to provide a device readily pilfered. 4

The full nature of the invention will be understood from the accompanying drawings and the following description and claims.

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a wall mounted air outlet register with an air deflector incorporated thereon according to a typical embodiment ofthe present inven- U011. :1

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the magnet assembly itself and illustrating how the grooves therein are adapted to alternative mounting direction in air-deflector notches.

FIGURE 3 is a top plan view of the magnet and housing assembly.

FIGURE 4 is section therethrough taken along the line 4-4 in FIGURE 3 and viewed in the direction of the arrows.

FIGURE 5 is a side elevational view of an air deflector or another configuration, showing one alternative mounting of the magnet assembly.

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged fragmentary view, being a portion of FIGURE 5 and showing the magnet assembly itself with a portion thereof broken away to illustrate the latching action.

' Referring now to the drawings in detail, the building wall 11 in FIGURE 1 has an air outlet grill 12 secured which is not "ice thereto, this grill being typically made of a ferromagnetic material such as steel, for example. An air deflector 13 is mounted thereto, this deflector being typically provided with a curved front wall 14 and parallel side walls 16 and 17, the entire unit being made of colorless polystyrene, if desired. As is apparent in the drawing, the space between internal surfaces of the side walls 16 and 17 is such that they fittingly slide over the sides 18 and 19 of the outlet register. The magnetic attachment is by means of two magnet assemblies 21, one of which is shown mounted to the wall 17 and the other of which is mounted to the side wall 16.

Each magnet assembly is as shown in FIGURES 2, 3 and 4 wherein a bar magnet 22 is mounted in a housing having an adapter face 23 and an upper end wall 24 and lower end wall 26, with the other two upstanding side and rear walls completing a housing. This housing can be an assembly of separate pieces in whatever arrangement is desired, and is typically made of colorless polystyrene which is transparent and matches the air deflector itself. The magnet is provided with upper and lower pole pieces 27 and 28 which, being connected to opposite ends of the magnet bar are oppositely polarized and we can consider pole piece 27 to be the north magnetic pole and pole piece 28 to be the south magnetic pole of the magnet assembly. These pole pieces have faces 29 and 31 which are typically flattened and disposed in a common plane 32, the pole pieces projecting slightly in front of the front wall 33 of the housing and permitting the pole piece faces to make good contact with any ferromagnetic surface to which they might be mounted, in spite of some minor variations in the surface texture or form. For example, in the embodiment of FIGURE 1, the pole faces 29 and 31 directly contact the end 18 of the register whereby the magnetic circuit is completed through the bar magnet, the two pole pieces and the portion of the register spanning the space between the points where it contacts the pole faces.

The manner of mounting the magnet assembly to the end wall 17 can be better appreciated upon reference to FIGURE 2 wherein the wall 17 is turned 180 from its orientation in FIGURE 1 and the magnet assembly is inserted into the notch 34 in the direction of the arrow 36. To facilitate mounting in this manner, a transverse groove 37 is provided in the top end wall of the housing and a like transverse groove 38 is provided in the lower end wall of the housing. These grooves are of a width selected to fittingly receive the upper marginal edge 39 and lower marginal edge 41 of the notch 34. Detent lug 42 is provided in the upper marginal edge 39 and projects toward the lower marginal edge, and a like detent lug 43 is provided in the lower marginal edge 41 projecting toward the upper marginal edge.

While the depth of the groove 37 from the top 44 of the housing to. the bottom 46 of the groove is suflicient to enable the lug 42 to freely receive the groove, the lug is short enough that a portion 47 of the deflector wall immediately above the edge 39 is disposed in overlapping relationshipto the wall of the groove to provide alignment of the plane of thepole faces with the plane of the side wall 17. of the deflector so that they are in parallel planes. Similarly, inthe groove 38 the distance from the bottom 1 48 of the housing to the bottom 49 of groove 38 is sufficient to permit the groove to receive the lug 43 and yet overlap somewhat the wall of the deflector on both sides of the marginal edge 41 to further support and align the plane of the pole faces parallel to the plane of the deflector side wall 17.

To secure the housing in the notch 34, latch 51 is provided in the upper wall and latch 52 is provided in the lower wall, these latches being integral with the proper wall and joined thereto at 53 and 54 (FIGURE 3) for upper latch 51. The latch is thus cantilevered from apoint of support at 56 and the portion thereof projecting up from the plane of the bottom 46 of the groove 37 is free to be moved up and down in the notch, although it will resiliently resist movement in either direction and normally returns to the position shown in FIGURES 2 and 4. Accordingly, as the housing is slided into the notch 34, the latches 51 and 52 can be pushed down and up, respectively, to avoid interference with the lugs 42 and 43, respectively. Once they are past the lugs, the latches can snap back into the position shown in FIGURE 4 whereupon the face 55 of latch 51 will abuttingly interfere with the face 57 of the lug 42 if any attempt is made to remove the housing from the notch. The same effect is achieved at the bottom of the housing by interference of the latch 52 with the lug 43. Accordingly the housing, and therefore the entire magnet assembly, is completely and permanently secured in the side wall of the deflector.

If the configuration of the register were such that instead of the side walls of the deflector being disposed on the outside of the sides of the register, it would be more convenient to dispose them on the inside of the register side walls or flanges, the magnet housing assemblies can be installed using the same transverse grooves in the notches but with the magnet pole faces facing outwardly instead of facing inwardly as they are in FIGURE 1. A further possibility is to mount a deflector so that the side walls thereof are neither overlapping a register on the outside nor overlapping a register flange on the inside but instead face the front of the register. This is shown in FIGURES 5 and 6 where the register front face 58 faces the front edge 59 of a side wall 61 of a deflector 62 having a front wall 63. In this instance, grooves 64} and 65 in the upper and lower end walls of the housing are employed to receive the marginal edges and lugs 64 and 66 of the notch in the wall 61. The same latches 51 and 52 function in the same way to prevent removal of the housing from the notch. To facilitate installation, and in view of the location of the cantilever point for the latches, ramps 67 and 68 are provided on the upper and lower latches 51 and 52 respectively, to make it easier to slide the housing into the notch 69 in the direction of the arrow 71 until the front walls or edges of the latches have passed the lugs and snapped back out into the grooves 60 and 65. Therefore when the upper latch 51 has snapped back up into the groove after passing the lug 64, the wall 72 thereof is disposed to abuttingly interfere with the Wall 73 of the lug 64 if any attempt is made to pull the housing back out of the, notch. FIGURE 6 shows, at 74 and 76, the nature of the overlap between the portions of the end walls of the housing and the portions of the deflector wall 61 adjacent the upper and lower marginal edges of the notch therein, to properly align and maintain alignment of the housing with the wall 61 f the deflector so that the plane of the pole faces is perpendicular to the plane of the side walls of the deflector, for they mounting as shown in FIGURES and 6 wherein the magnetic field is completed through the register between the pole faces as indicated at 77.

It is believed that from consideration of the foregoing description, it will be apparent that the present invention is well able to achieve the objects set out herein, and that additional benefits may be derived from the use thereof.

While the invention has been disclosed and described in some detail in the drawings and foregoing description, they are to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character, as other modifications may readily suggest themselves to persons skilled in this art and within the broad scope of the invention, reference being had to the appended claims.

The invention claimed is:

1. A mounting combination comprising; a mounting edge having a detent thereon:

a a magnet having first and second pole means therein,

saidv pole means having spaced faces. magnetized. to. opposite polarities by said magnet;

a housing having said magnet therein and an adapter face with said pole means proximate thereto,

said housing having end walls, a first end wall having a first groove therein, said grooved end wall being thereby arranged for reception on said mounting edge,

and said housing having a latch, said latch projecting into the groove and being mounted to resiliently resist movement out of the groove, and thereby snap out into the groove after passing said detent on said mounting edge during installation, said latch having an abutment to interlock with the detent and prevent removal of the housing from the mounting edge.

2. The combination of claim 1 and further comprising installation on said mounting edge regardless of which one of said first and said transverse grooves is received on the mounting edge. 4. The combination of claim 1 wherein:

said pole means project slightly beyond said adapter face and said faces of said pole means are coplanar Y in a plane spaced ashor't distance from said adapter face and outside said housing.

5. The combination of claim 4 wherein:

said first groove extends perpendicular tosaid plane.

6. The combination of claim 5 and further compris-i a transverse groove in said first end wall, said transverse groove intersecting said first groove at right angles,

said latch projecting into said grooves at the intersection thereof whereby said latch is adapted to retain said housing on said detented mounting edge re-e gardless of which of said first and said transverse grooves receives the said mounting edge.

7. The combination comprising:

an air deflector having a front wall and first and second side walls joined to said front wall and spaced apart thereby,

said first side wall having a first notch therein defined by a pair of parallel spaced mounting edges'in the said first wall, i

a magnet having first and second pole means therein, said pole means'having spaced faces magnetized to opposite polarities bysaid magnet; i i

a housing having said magnet therein and an adapter face with said pole means proximate thereto,

said housing having end walls, a first end wall having a groove therein,

and said housing having a latch, said latch projectinginto the groove and being mounted to resiliently resist movement out of the groove,

said housing being received on said first side wall of said air deflector with said groove being fittingly received on one of said mounting edges, said one mounting edge having adetent lug thereon projecting toward the other mounting edge, said latch being disposed between said front wall and said detent lug tov lock said housing in said notch, the resilience of said latch causing said latch to snap out into the groove after passing said detent lug on said mounting edge during installation, said latch having an abutment to interlock with the detent and prevent removal of the housing from said mounting edge:

8. The combination of claim 7 and further compris mg:

an air outlet member in a building structure, said outlet having a ferromagnetic portion, said faces of said pole means contacting said ferromagnetic portion to complete a magnetic circuit through said magnet and said pole means and said outlet member portion whereby said air deflector is secured to and supported by said outlet member.

9. The combination of claim 8 wherein:

said housing completely encloses said magnet;

said deflector and said housing are matching identical 6 t material; and said latch is integral with said housing.

References Cited 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,161,001 6/1939 Bedol 98-103 2,875,324 2/1959 Camp et al. 248206 3,225,679 12/1965 Meyer 98-403 10 ROBERT A. OLEARY, Primary Examiner.

M. A. ANTONAKAS, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A MOUNTING COMBINATION COMPRISING; A MOUNTING EDGE HAVING A DETENT THEREON: A MAGNET HAVING FIRST AND SECOND POLE MEANS THEREIN, SAID POLE MEANS HAVING SPACES FACES MAGNETIZED TO OPPOSITE POLARITIES BY SAID MAGNET A HOUSING HAVING SAID MAGNET THEREIN AND AN ADAPTER FACE WITH SAID POLE MEANS PORXIMATE THERETO, SAID HOUSING HAVING END WALLS, A FIRST END WALL HAVING A FIRST GROOVE THEREIN, SAID GROOVED END WALL BEING THEREBY ARRANGED FOR RECEPTION ON SAID MOUNTING EDGE, AND SAID HOUSING HAVING A LATCH, SAID LATCH PROJECTING INTO THE GROOVE AND BEING MOUNTED TO RESILIENTLY RESIST MOVEMENT OUT OF THE GROOVE, AND THEREBY SNAP OUT INTO THE GROOVE AFTER PASSING SAID DETENT ON SAID MOUNTING EDGE DURING INSTALLATION, SAID LATCH HAVING AN ABUTMENT TO INTERLOCK WITH THE DETENT AND PREVENT REMOVAL OF THE HOUSING FROM THE MOUNTING EDGE. 